Petitions
by THIboxNK
Summary: No matter how hard you try, you can't change what you feel. But it can change you. And that just might make things better. NaruSasu. semiChibi fic. DISCONTINUED.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I would've liked to get the rights to Naruto for Christmas, but I got a really nice Naruto calendar instead. Oh well._

A/N: This story takes place about one week after the Uchiha massacre. It might contain some spoilers for episodes up until the Valley of the End (because all of the best flashbacks happen then).

Warning: This fic will be shonen-ai eventually (NaruSasu). There will be some blood and death, as there is in the series. There might be some OOC, though I will do my best to fight against too much of it. There may be some stupid humor in this.

**Chapter One**

Naruto hated him. He hated him for all his skills, his looks, his absolute _perfection_. Naruto hated him, because he hated perfection. And Sasuke was _perfection_.

He was beautiful- anyone with eyes could see that, even at his young age. He was more skilled with shuriken than anyone else Naruto had ever met. He was rich to a point where his family's wealth could've surpassed that of the village's (in Naruto's mind, at least). He was loved.

Sasuke was everything that Naruto was not.

He was _perfection_.

And Naruto hated him.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

_Again!_ Naruto thought in aggravation. _That bastard was out again! Why does he have to get special treatment? He's been out all this week and Kurenai-sensei hasn't said a thing about it! If it'd been anybody else, she woulda--!_

Naruto's thoughts were cut short when he heard his own name being called. Turning around, he found himself face to face with Kiba, another prankster in his class who, although he wasn't exactly friendly to him, was one of the few who would acknowledge him without hatred (normally Kiba would settle for annoyance and amusement at Naruto's apparent stupidity) in his eyes. So Naruto liked him—a little bit.

"Eh? What is it?"

"I heard," Kiba said with a grin, "that Uchiha was in the hospital all this week." Kiba paused a moment, gauging Naruto's reacting (an aghast look that consisted of a dropped jaw, wide eyes, and eyebrows shot up into his hairline) before continuing. "_And_ I heard that, after he woke up from his coma-" snot dribbled from Naruto's nose "- he ran off, and nobody's found him yet!"

Taking a moment to recover his dignity (it was a long moment), Naruto asked him, "So, really, nobody's found him?"

Kiba's grin widened, "Nope! And he's already been missing a couple hours! I mean, how pathetic is it that a bunch of trained shinobi can't even find a little academy kid? You know, I heard that some people are panicking so much that a couple ANBU were sent after him!"

Naruto blinked, half in confusion to the reference of "Ahn-BOO" and the other in astonishment that nobody had found Sasuke. Despite Sasuke being the best in their class, he knew that there was no way a bunch of real ninja wouldn't have been able to find him if they were really looking.

"So, you're saying that tons of really good shinobi are after Sasuke, right?" Kiba nodded at Naruto's question. "And that nobody's been able to find him?" Another nod.

"So… that means that, if I find him I'm a better ninja that all of them! Oh yeah! I'm gonna go find Sasuke-bastard, and then people will respect me a whole bunch, and maybe I'll get to be Hokage real soon!" Naruto shouted excitedly, pumping his fists in the air.

"You know, Naruto, I really--" before Kiba could even finish his sentence, Naruto had already run off, shouting out thanks to the Inuzuka behind him.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Ugh… I can't believe I haven't found the bastard yet… after two hours!" Naruto ran a hand through his hair in frustration, his complaints unheard on the empty street. Sighing in defeat, Naruto's hand dropped back to his side. "I guess I'll just go home… maybe if I ask nice enough, I can get Iruka-sensei to buy me ramen!"

Iruka had taken a liking to Naruto after being given the task of punishing him for one of his more severe pranks (Iruka had been given the duty despite Naruto not being in his class at the Academy, as Iruka had been the only person available at the time) and every once in a while would treat the boy at the Ichiraku.

A slight hop in his step at the thought of receiving free ramen, Naruto made his way down the street humming a cheerful, tuneless song. Through his own joy, Naruto hadn't the attention span to notice the (rather large and blatantly _there_) pothole in the road, so causing his tripping and falling down a large, grassy hill on the side of the road.

_Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…_

Naruto's tumble was finally halted when he finally ran out of hill to slide down. This, unfortunately, led to him shooting off of its side and into the lake next to it, which was decidedly not preferable, as Naruto lacked the ability to swim.

As the air rushed out of his lungs, Naruto fought not to let the water in. Kicking his arms and legs around wildly, Naruto could only despair as he felt himself being pulled down further. As the corners of his visions, he fought to stay conscious, knowing that if he did, there was no chance for him.

Naruto gave himself about five more seconds before he A) lost consciousness, B) breathed in water, and C) died. _Goodbye, Iruka-sensei…_

Four… _goodbye, Kiba…_

Three… _goodbye, Sakura-chan…_

Two… _goodbye, Hokage-self…_

One… _goodbye, ramen…_

And he saw black.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

He felt warm. That, to him, was the first sign that something was wrong. Not the warmth- no, for it was far too _nice_- but to feel. He was supposed to be dead- that's kind of what's supposed to happen when you drown. You die. And when you die, you don't feel anything anymore. So, seeing as he felt more, he must've been alive.

He was pretty sure that there wasn't any divine intervention, which would imply that A) he had dreamed the whole drowning thing, B) he had hallucinated the whole drowning thing, or C) someone had saved him.

And C was incredibly unlikely, which was why he was worried. B was quite probable, and insanity wasn't a pleasant thing, he'd heard.

For a moment, he was cold again, and he suspected that maybe he'd just gotten lucky and it was taking him a really long time finally kick the bucket, but soon the pleasant warmness return, and he was positive he was alive.

His proof of this was the odd fact that he was breathing again, which you weren't supposed to do if you were under water and drowning.

Eyes fluttering open, he came upon a very odd sight. A close up of Uchiha Sasuke's slightly red (was he blushing?) face about one inch from his. That was, in his book, classified as "odd."

Actually, it was more like "monumentally strange," but close enough.

It only took another half a second to register that the older boy was soaking wet, and was kneeling virtually on top of Naruto.

The other half a second was used to prepare his voice for a loud (and rather girly) screech, and launch his fist into Sasuke's shoulder in an effort to get the other boy away from him.

This, of course, backfired on Naruto when Sasuke ended up losing his balance, and collapsed on Naruto.

It further backfired on Naruto when Sasuke's lips crashed into his with the force on the boy's fall.

The two laid like that, frozen for a moment, before Sasuke leapt away, a scowl on his face. He simply stood their briefly, glaring at Naruto with a force that could cause a rhinoceros to wet itself, before silently stalking away.

Naruto found himself unable to move. His thoughts raced, and he couldn't help but be massively confused. Why hadn't Sasuke hit back? Why had he been there in the first place? Why hadn't he even reacted when Naruto saw him when he should've known perfectly well that everyone was looking for him? Why had he been wet? Why had he been so close to Naruto?

He reached a hand up tentatively to his lips, and froze, eyes widening.

Had Sasuke… saved him?

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Naruto felt lost. Scratch that- he _was_ lost.

Sighing to himself, he wondered why he had ever thought he would be able to find his way to the Uchiha district all by himself. He couldn't even get back to his own apartment half of the time, why would he have been able to find his way to a place he had only ever seen in passing?

"Why does that bastard have to be so hard to find?" Naruto asked himself. "That's it, if I can't find the place by dinner time, I'm giving up!"

Of course, it was only with the irony of fate that he came upon it within the next two minutes.

He blinked, looking at the entrance way. _This can't really be it, can it?_ He thought. At the door there were scattered police markers, warning any passersby to stay away. The sign that must've so proudly displayed to Uchiha crest was now slightly cracked, and the name itself almost completely warn away, but Naruto could still recognize the odd fan-shape symbol.

Swallowing with sudden nervousness, Naruto cautiously walked forward, thinking that he had probably stumbled upon an old entrance, and once he was inside he would be faced with all of the overwhelming splendors that the Uchiha were well-noted for.

It was unsettling for the boy to see that the inside was just as bad off as the entranceway itself. Shops and homes were boarded up, and the police station he had never even known was closed down, with broken windows and a cracked Uchiha crest on the faded star gracing its sign.

As he walked down the (deserted, he noted) street, he kept his head bowed, intimidated by the fearful-looking place. There was only one place in the entire range of his vision that wasn't completely closed off: a large house that was placed dead center in the compound.

Making his way towards the house- mansion, really- Naruto suddenly wondered if coming all this way just to talk to Sasuke was a bad idea.

_No,_ Naruto thought resolutely. _If he really saved my life- which I'm pretty sure he did- I want to thank him. And I wanna know why._ Mustering up his courage, Naruto walked quickly towards the sliding door entrance and slipped inside.

Relief washed over him when Naruto saw that the inside of the house was completely normal, and he smiled a little. Now, he just needed to find Sasuke. Then he could go to the Ichiraku and get some miso ramen…

Of course, wandering through the halls aimlessly in search of another boy who could've possibly been moving around as well in search of finding said boy actually took a lot longer than Naruto had thought.

A _lot_ longer.

_Where am I?_ Naruto wondered, not recognizing the hall he was in now. _Maybe he's been here the whole time, and that's why I couldn't find him!_ Naruto thought excitedly, hoping he'd finally be able to leave soon.

Running towards the end of the hallway, he saw that the only thing in this particular hallway was large, wooden double-doors. Coming to them quickly, he tugged on the handles. Nothing happened. Frowning, he wondered if the doors were locked. Pulling harder, he finally felt the doors start to budge, and he was finally able to fling them open. Losing his balance because of their sudden response, he found himself face-first on the wooden floor of the room.

"Ow…"

Pushing himself up with one hand, he used the other to feel if he had broken his nose. Nope. It just hurt like hell. Removing his hand from his face, he got his first look of the room.

It was dark. He could barely see anything, but from what he could tell there wasn't much to see; the room looked completely bare. He was rather disappointed to see that Sasuke wasn't in the room.

Sighing, he turned around and started to walk out of the room, only to fall back on his behind when he ran (once again face-first) into the double doors. "Crap… why'd they have to close on me…?"

Once again clutching his nose, he started to feel around the room. _Come one, light switch! C'mere, boy! Here, light switch! _

Finally feeling something beneath his fingers, he flicked what he hoped was a light switch, and smiled when he suddenly saw the wall before him. Turning away, he started to head back towards the double doors, when he paused, eyes drawn towards the center of the room.

There was a neat chalk outline drawn onto the floor, drawn into an odd shape. It took a moment for Naruto to register that it was outlining two things, one most likely draped over the other. Two people, most likely a woman and a man, judging by the size of the figures (though the observation came distantly to Naruto, a solo piece of relatively unimportant information swimming past his eyes).

And there was blood.

All around the outside of the figures, and pooled inside of them, was dried blood. Its normal red color had faded to copper, but there was no mistaking it.

… This room was a grave.

And he screamed. He didn't know how long or how loudly, but he screamed. He supposed it was those screams that attracted Sasuke to the room, for soon he was there, yelling for Naruto to leave, an order which Naruto was all too happy to obey. He had to run- run run run runrurnrun….

Because anyone who stays in a grave for too long will surely end up dead.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

To be continued…

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

A/N: Should I say sorry for writing this? Not only because I have two other stories I'm ignoring right now, but because that was so weird? I mean, at first it seemed like it was going to be kind of funny, but then I go and through in that really weird part! I'm such a bad writer.

Oh well, I hope that someone found this interesting. I hope that I'll be able to update soon (I figure that if I can get myself to update on a regular basis I'll have no choice but to finally finish a fic) for anyone who really likes this. And, if you do, please review! Reviews make me know that writing this story is worth it.

Oh yeah, and happy holiday to all of you out there celebrating over vacation!


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: It's called a "disclaimer." That pretty much tells all, but, if someone didn't get it, that means that I don't own Naruto._

Warnings: All the same ones from chapter one, except possibly a bit more blood than before and a tiny bit of bad language. Oh yes, this is un-betaed- both chapters, and this entire story most likely. Because I doubt rereading it myself really counts.

**Chapter Two**

Sasuke wanted to hate him. Sasuke wanted to hate Naruto because he was _there_. Because he was happy. Because he was stupid. Because he was _loud_. Because he was _so_ damn happy, _so_ damn stupid, and _so_ damn loud that everything he said went straight to Sasuke's heart.

Sasuke wanted to hate him because he _didn't_.

Because he _couldn't_.

Because Sasuke wasn't perfect.

Because Naruto was.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

All he heard were screams; loud screams that pierced his heart, his mind, his soul. They were his family's screams… his parents'… his own.

All he saw were bodies, everywhere- and blood, so much blood he felt like he was drowning in it. And his brother- his precious nii-san- watched with that smirk on his face… that horrible, demonic smile that was almost as terrifying as those spinning wheel eyes…

Sasuke wanted to cry out. He wanted more than anything to escape this place- but what use is it to try and defy the inevitable, the inescapable? There was no way to leave this hellish prison, because it was his own mind. And the only thing in life you can't throw away is yourself.

Above all the screams (the loudest, he noticed, was his own), rose a voice. "Foolish little brother… Otouto…" _Oh god…_ How he longed for the screams to be louder! Anything would be better than that smooth baritone, that voice that came from the devil himself.

There he stood before Sasuke, a menacing shadow on which he could only see the katana that glistened with blood- _Okaa-san! Otou-san!_- and his eyes. Those eyes, the same color as the spilt blood of his slaughtered family.

"You are week." _No!_ "If you want to kill me, despise me, hate me, and live a loathsome life." _Why, Nii-san, why? _"Run, run, and cling desperately to life." _Why are you doing this?_

_Why are you doing this to me?_

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Sasuke wasn't sure what he had been expecting. He supposed he probably should have known what he would see, but even so, he hadn't been ready for it.

When Sasuke had awoken in the hospital, his first thoughts were simply those of finding something to eat. It was only when he walked by a pair of nursed and overheard there whispered conversation ("Did you hear about the incident at the Uchiha district?" "Of course! Even though they're trying to cover it up, I heard from the ANBU who brought the youngest one here that only two survived, and that the older's gone missing!") that Sasuke decided to make his escape.

It honestly hadn't been very hard. Although he wasn't one to brag, he knew that his shinobi skills far surpassed the average academy student's, and the hospital had barely been guarded at all, save for a few incompetent chuunin posted at the main entrance (as if someone trying to break in or out would actually use the _front door_).

He had immediately set out for his old home, needing to prove to himself the wrongness of the nurse's gossip. _Only two survived…_

No. They had to be wrong.

But as Sasuke stood at the entrance to his family home- falling apart from either the results of the massacre (_don't think about it, don't think about it, don't see Okaa-san's face_), or the ANBU's work following it, he knew it was no nightmare. It had happened. His family was gone.

His nii-san was a _murderer_.

From a young age, shinobi children, especially those from large clans like the Uchiha and Hyuuga, were taught the difference between killing for a mission- as was required of most any shinobi that made it past genin rank- and killing for a personal reason. It was ingrained into them that one was right, the other was wrong.

And his nii-san had gone oh so far into the wrong.

Before Sasuke had even realized it, he had torn off the police tape quarantining his home, and his feet had unconsciously carried him into the Uchiha district. For a moment Sasuke saw his aunt and uncle, standing in their shop, smiling at him and asking him how he was. But the dream was soon dispersed, and the wreckage of their home and workplace was revealed to Sasuke. Suppressing a shiver, he moved forward, heading towards the main house.

Honestly, it seemed to be the only place that had survived at least relatively intact. When he walked through the halls he did notice a lack of several expensive vases (one of which he remembered smashing during his panicked run through the house), but besides that it seemed mostly the same as before.

_Before…_ he wondered. _Is that how it's going to be now- memories dated "before" and "after" my life was ruined?_

_Why, onii-san?_

"To measure my capacity."

Sasuke stiffened, and spun around, searching the halls for any sign of Itachi. There was none. "Just my imagination…" he muttered. "Is this how it's going to be? Am I always going to turn around and wonder if he'll be there, waiting to kill me too?"

_I won't let him._ He thought as he rounded a corner. He now stood before the double doors leading to their old "family room" (as if it ever served any use at all). Taking a deep breath, he reached out, and pushed down on the handle as he pulled the door open (he'd learned the trick when he was younger and had wanted to use the room to get away from his family when he was angry at them- he couldn't recall why, but figured the reason must've been idiotic for him to not even remember it).

The room was still light, as it was only midday. And it was by the small streams of light coming from the half opened windows that he saw it. Cruel in all its simplicity was a chalk outline of his parents' bodies, contrasting starkly with the dark wood of the floor, and of the freshly dried blood around the figures.

He wasn't sure when he started crying, only noticing when a small sob escaped from his suddenly dry throat. He couldn't feel his legs any longer, and collapsed to the floor, the hospital gown he hadn't bothered to change out of pooling around him, creating a sort of blanket to shield his shaking form from the reality:

His parents were dead. This was all that was left of them.

_I'll kill him first._

"I'll kill you, onii-san…"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Sasuke had barely taken the time to change in his effort to escape his home- no, not his home, not anymore. Just a house he had to live in until he could find a new apartment for himself.

He headed away, not really having a destination in mind. Truly, he wasn't even sure how he had ended up at the lake. It was close to Uchiha property- some could've even said it was; many of the Uchiha did. Sasuke thought ironically, at least this would settle all of the land disputes. He himself didn't much care if this place belonged to the Uchiha or not. Just that it was remote.

His father had taught him here. He had taught him a powerful katon jutsu, and told Sasuke that if he could master it, he would be officially a man among the Uchiha clan. But that wasn't why Sasuke had wanted to learn the technique. He had wanted to learn it to acquire the one compliment he had the ability to squeeze out of Uchiha Fugaku: "As is expected of my child."

It wasn't even praise. His father wasn't the type for that- but it was a single phrase that had left Sasuke hovering somewhere in the clouds for hours. He had never seen his father's eyes look like that with him- he had never seen his otou-san proud of him before. It made him happy.

But he still remembered; a warning had come with it. Otou-san had said to not follow his brother's path. He wondered for a moment: _Did Otou-san know?_ Maybe not, but he may have suspected. _Why didn't he say anything?_

The answer was quick to come. He didn't want to believe it. He loved his son- maybe too much.

_Otou-san…_ He fought back the tears.

"I'm going to make you proud," he whispered. "I'm going to make you love me even more than you did Itachi-nii. Because… I'll beat him. I'll make sure that nobody around me ever gets hurt again… I swear it. For you, Otou-san. You and Okaa-san."

He closed his eyes for a moment, a small smile on his face- it wasn't happy, or amused, or even peaceful. It was accepting. He was resolved to his fate, because he knew he had a task to complete- and he would do anything to see it through. For now, though, he would live his life. He would train harder than ever, and he would never forget what Itachi had done. But his brother would not dictate his fate- he would control it himself, and keep thoughts of Itachi in the back of his mind; his motivation, but not his life.

As he made to stand up, he heard loud curses coming from the road atop the grassy hill next to the lake. Blinking, Sasuke looked up. The second he did so, though, the figure who had been producing said loud curses apparently tripped in something (Sasuke seemed to recall there being a rather large pothole in the road) and began a tumble down the hill.

Sasuke watched in vague amusement as he heard the person's steady chant of "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" as they tumbled down the rather steep hill. The spectacle only lasted another second, as the hill was actually rather small and the boy (judging by the voice, he must've been about Sasuke's age) was rolling rather fast, and soon he shot out into the water. Sasuke stood there another moment, waiting for him to resurface so Sasuke could take the time to properly mock his idiocy.

But the boy didn't resurface. After waiting a half a minute, Sasuke felt the worry begin to creep in. What if the boy drowned? That definitely didn't seem like it would be a good way for him to work on his new "no more deaths in my life" policy.

"I said I wouldn't let anyone around me get hurt, and thirty seconds later someone comes and almost drowns?"

After only a half a second of indecision, Sasuke dived in after the boy. Swimming downwards as fast as he could, he silently thanked kami-sama for such clear water. He spotted the boy quickly, and headed towards him. Grabbing the boy's weakly flailing arms, he began to kick upwards.

He gasped for breath as he reached the surface, and made sure the boy's head was above water as well as the dragged them out of the water and onto the bridge. Still panting, he looked over at the boy, seeing his face for the first time.

Sasuke was almost horrified to realize he recognized him. _Naruto?_ What was that idiot doing here? Didn't he have class at the Academy right now? Then again, that idiot would ditch… but what was he doing around here, so close to the Uchiha district?

Pushing those thoughts aside, Sasuke moved closer to Naruto, positioning himself over the boy, and leaned his head down against the smaller boy's chest to see if his heart was beating. It wasn't.

_Kami-sama…_ Sasuke could barely think straight. He tried his best to remember the class they had been offered at the Academy to get someone breathing again if they had drowned. Biting his lip, he tried to remember.

_Dammit… _You were supposed to give them air, right? Did that mean that…? _Shit._

Cautiously leaning down, Sasuke gently pressed his lips to Naruto, and breathed into the still boy's mouth, trying to fight back the blush. _Them what? Aren't you supposed to try and get the water out of his lungs…?_

Sasuke, still confused and barely knowing what to do (and relying more on things he had seen on TV than the actual class he'd been forced to attend), brought down his hands and Naruto's chest. He was seriously relieved when Naruto coughed up most of the water clogging his lungs.

Sasuke sighed in relief, but then realized that Naruto still wasn't breathing. _Idiot! You're supposed to breathe when there's nothing stopping you! Can you not do anything right?.!_

Swallowing hard, Sasuke leaned down again and breathed into Naruto's mouth (_Why me? Why me? Why _me).

Pulling away slightly from the other boy, Sasuke was relieved when he felt Naruto's faint breaths upon his face. "Took you long enough, idiot… do you have a death wish or something?"

From beneath him, Naruto groaned a bit, opening his eyes. They were both still for a moment, but the second Naruto moved the entire situation seemed to spin out of control. Before Sasuke even had time to think he had managed to go through the process of being hit, collapsing on Naruto (and inadvertently kissing him), glaring death at him, and leaving the lake. It was only when Sasuke had already managed to bring himself back to the entrance of the Uchiha compound the entire thing seemed to catch up with him, and he went through the process of wanting to hit Naruto, blushing, and taking out his rage and embarrassment on a poor, helpless rock that happened to be in his path.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Sasuke spent the next couple hours training in the woods nearest the main house. There wasn't any actual equipment in his selected area, but he had enough trees, rocks, and adorable little woodland creatures to use that it made no difference. By the time he was done, suppertime was fast approaching, and Sasuke barely caught himself before he finished his thought.

_I wonder what Okaa-san has prepared…?_

Sasuke wondered if maybe he'd never become used to his aloneness, if he'd always head home hoping he mother had made his preferred onigiri, or if his father would take the time to train him, or if his brother would finally keep his always promised "tomorrow," and help Sasuke train.

Shaking his head, he tried to rid himself of that train of thought. He knew it would only lead to more nightmares, his imagination creating new scenarios of how Itachi had killed his parents. He couldn't help but be a bit curious, though: had Itachi simply stabbed them in the back, allowed them no time to defend themselves? Or had he approached them as if nothing was wrong, as if he was going to help fight off whatever intruder had already killed so many of the clan?

For some reason, Sasuke couldn't help but think the latter would be more fitting for Itachi's cruelty.

As he came closer to the house, Sasuke tried his best to blank his mind. Breathing in deeply, he allowed a sense of numb calmness to overtake him. He closed his eyes for a moment, relishing the feeling. He hoped that, eventually, he would be able to more easily bring about this peace. That it wouldn't be so hard to forget.

His reverie was soon broken, though, as he heard a piercing scream echoing through the deserted streets of the Uchiha compound. His head jerked upwards, and he found himself racing towards the source of the sound: the main house.

Again, he heard the scream. Sasuke winced this time, as the sound reverberated through the empty hallways. He couldn't help but picture his mother, screaming as she watched her husband's body fall to the floor, knowing she was next…

A sense of panic had set in, and Sasuke raced through the hallways, letting the screams guide him. Soon, he found himself before large, wooden double doors, the entrance to the very same room he had visited earlier. His breathing quickened, become more erratic as the vision of his parents became more predominant in his mind.

_No!_

He jerked the doors open, still expecting to see the massacred body of his parents there. But there wasn't- only their bloody outline, and Sasuke soon saw the screams came from another source. Naruto.

"Get out!" he screamed. "Get out now!" He was angry- unbelievably so. Why was Naruto here? How had that idiot gotten inside, and what made him think he had the right to come into this room?.!

"You idiot, _leave_! Get out or I'll kill you!" His shouts had become desperate, turning more into sobs as he felt tears fall down his cheeks. He heard a small part of him screaming, _Stop it! Don't even talk like that! No more deaths! Please, just stop it!_ That part was crying too.

Naruto didn't even seem to notice Sasuke's state as he ran from the room, a look of horror on his unusually pale face. As he rushed by, Sasuke caught him mumbling to himself. "Gotta get out… don't wanna die…"

_Die?_ Sasuke wondered. _Maybe._ _After all, the living don't have a place in the home of the dead. But does that mean that I'll die as well?_

_I don't want to die…_

_Help me…_

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Naruto wasn't sure how long he'd been running. All he knew was that he was tired, hungry and lost- again.

His fear had run out, and now he was mostly confused. Not about what he had seen- no he knew exactly what it was he saw, but about why it was there. Actually, that was a very bad way to say that- he knew the technical reason _why_ it was there (most any child training to be a ninja would have some kind of idea), but he didn't know why it was in Sasuke's home. He didn't know why Sasuke's home was like it was- why everything in the entire Uchiha district seemed to have gone through years of damage seemingly overnight.

He just didn't know!

"What happened?" he wondered to himself. "Sasuke, what happened to you?"

Determined, Naruto started to head back in the direction his had come from (he hoped). He was going to go back and find Sasuke. He would ask him why he had saved him, and then he would ask him what had happened. It might've just been his curiosity, but Naruto felt he needed to know.

And maybe Sasuke needed someone to know.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

To be continued…

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

A/N: Wow. That's one of the longest chapters I've ever written (despite the fact there are much longer chapters out there). I hope that everyone reading it liked it (though I doubt there are many people reading it). I know that my writing style may not be that great, what with my possibly excessive usage of parentheses and the "…", I might not be the best writer out there. I hope that those people reading this story like it despite that.

Oh yeah, and do you think that the way I'm doing this story is okay? I know that the little parts before the actual start of the chapter are a bit weird, but I'm not going to do them often- only in the first two and last two chapters of the story. Those parts are the way that Naruto and Sasuke currently feel about each other, and I'm going to put those parts again at the end of the story when those feelings have changed dramatically.

I'm not sure how long this story will be, or how far I'll go off of the canon Naruto, but I hope that the people who like this story like how it goes the whole way.

Oh yeah! I've also got to say I'm sorry for holding out on posting this for so long! I completely forgot I'd even written it already, no matter how pathetic it sounds; and when I did remember, I couldn't find the time to post it! I do enjoy writing this story, no matter how weird and simply stupid it may be, so I hope to have the next chapter done much sooner.

Oh yes, and seeing as I'm writing two other fics right now- both of which I'm having some evil writer's block for- this might sometimes be put on the back burner for them. But right now, at least, I hope to have this fic as my priority.

Please review! (I know you're there- how hard is it for you to click a little button and tell me what you think? Come on, please?)


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I never have, I never will. I only write these disclaimers so some random lawyer doesn't come along and sue me._

A/N: Wow! I updated pretty quickly for me. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. There aren't any specific warnings for this chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter Three**

As an Academy teacher, Iruka had dealt with many troublemakers. So far, he'd label Naruto as the worst of them hands down.

So far the boy had been apprehended for such crimes as Placing a frog in a toilet at the girl's bathroom (he'd been the one forced to retrieve it), posting a picture of Mizuki kissing Iruka on a dare all over the halls of the school (he cursed that annoying perverted jounin for ever suggesting they play Truth, Dare, or Shuriken), and falsifying love notes from the young Uchiha boy, copying them, and sending them to every female in the class (Iruka had been forced to council each and every one of the crying girls).

And those were some of his more docile pranks.

Right now, Iruka was fuming as he made his way through the streets of Konohagakure, looking for said blond troublemaker. "Why me?" he muttered to himself.

Sandaime-sama seemed to have made him Naruto's unofficial caretaker (if that could be considered an accurate description of his grudgingly accepted duties) after he had one time taken pity on the boy and treated him to some ramen. He admitted that he did care for the young boy, and that he saw a bit of himself in him, but that did not mean he wanted to have to search through the whole of the city searching for the brat!

By now, Iruka was thinking of the many ways he could possibly punish Naruto for ditching Kurenai-sensei's class (many of which involved contacting Ichiraku and asking the man to stop supplying the boy with his favorite food for an undesignated amount of time, or forcing him into a study group with Uchiha Sasuke's fan club) as a way to ease his anger. He had already gone through almost the entirety of Konoha's middle-class living area, and was soon going to be forced to wander into one of the more powerful clan's districts.

"I swear, if he wandered onto Hyuuga property, I'm not going to bother trying to save his butt," he said to himself, earning a few odd stares from passer-bys. He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment while they turned away, pretending to ignore the chuunin.

He sighed again. _What messes that boy gets me into- and he doesn't even realize the half of it! I swear, someday soon he's going to drive me mad._

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

By the time it was four o'clock, Naruto found himself miserably lost, hungry, and on-edge from his experience in the Uchiha district. He wasn't sure what he would do when he found Sasuke, but he had a vague idea that it was something along the lines of an interrogation quickly followed by a large dinner at Ichiraku's.

Despite having more immediate issues on his hands (such as once again finding himself at the lake where he'd first encountered Sasuke and his stomach's increasingly large grumblings), Naruto's mind continually wandered from his situation. He couldn't seem to forget the young Uchiha's cries as he had fled his home.

_Is that really his home?_ Naruto wondered to himself. For as long as he could remember, he'd hear people speaking of there own homes- whether it be a conversation he had happened upon, or a discussion at the Academy- and he'd always thought that home was a place where you could go home, and there'd be a family that loved you always waiting there with hugs and kisses.

Talking about it always made him sad, serving as a brutal reminder that his own apartment was not in any way a home.

And what about Sasuke- could a place like that truly be his home? _It felt empty. Cold… lifeless._ It seemed to Naruto that it, in fact, was- the only person he'd seen was Sasuke, even when he knew for a fact that the Uchiha clan was made up of over a hundred people; it was, after all, the largest and most powerful clan in Konohagakure. Everyone knew that- so where had all the Uchihas gone?

An image of a bloody chalk sketch flashed in his mind, and he paled.

Dead?

_Impossible!_ Part of him shouted. He preferred to agree with that part of himself, and ignore the little whispering voice of doubt. _(People die every day. What makes them so special?)_

Shaking his head a little, Naruto tried his best to rid himself of that train of thought. Wondering what had happened would get him no where; right now, he needed to either find Sasuke, or find his way back into the main part of Konoha.

"How hard can that be?" Naruto asked himself. "One way leads to Sasuke, the other way leads back to the Academy! Win-win situation, right?"

After wandering around for another half hour, Naruto began to have his doubts. His hunger had increased tenfold and he was still in an area he was unfamiliar with. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep walking before he simply gave up, plopped down on the road, and started to eat his own shoe.

He was, luckily, saved from finding out exactly what year-old shinobi-worn sandals taste like when he heard the softly calling voice of a familiar brunet Academy teacher. Naruto's face brightened in a gleeful smile. "Iruka-sensei!" he called out, waving his arms around excitedly.

It was only another few seconds before the kindly chuunin instructor rounded a corner and came upon the young boy. Somewhere between relief and finally finding his quarry and frustration at the boy who had monopolized his day, Iruka settled into TeacherMode. "Where were you today? You completely blew off the second half of the day and nobody had a clue where you were! We were worried, you know!"

Naruto just continued to grin at his sensei, hiding his grimace inwardly as he briefly thought of the day's "excitement." "I just got really bored, y'know! So I decided that I'd just go for a walk, and I ended up getting lost! So, I've been wandering around for more than and hour now! If you hadn't shown up, I don't know what I would've done!"

Iruka blinked at the blond, for a moment unsure what to do, before the fact Naruto had ditched finally registered in his mind. "You skipped school for no reason again! And you were nearly on Hyuuga property, you know- and you don't _want_ to know what they could've done if you wandered onto their land!

"Honestly, Naruto, for all you say you want to be Hokage, you can't even manage to behave for one day in the Academy! Can't you try and get your act together for once?"

Huffing slightly, Iruka folded his arms again, trying to look like an imposing, patronizing adult. It took him a few moments to realize that he'd gone a bit too far, when he heard the small, choked sob from the boy standing in front of him. For a moment, Iruka had forgotten that, for all his bravado, and for all the trouble he'd caused, Naruto was still just a kid- he needed gentle encouragement and support, not just to be scolded and put down.

It was only then that it occurred to Iruka: he was the only one who would give the boy a chance, so that job fell solely to him. Eyes softening, Iruka crouched down and hugged the boy. "I'm sorry, Naruto. That was too harsh… you really are a good student, but you should try and cause a little less trouble. Okay?"

Tears still running from his eyes, Naruto nodded his head a bit. What Iruka said wasn't what had gotten to him really. It was just that when he heard his sensei speaking to him, it was suddenly Sasuke's voice that was whispering in his ear.

"_Honestly, Naruto, you're always bragging about being Godaime, but you can't even manage to hit the center of the target, you dobe."_

"_Stop being such a moron."_

"_You idiot, leave! Get out or I'll kill you!"_

He hadn't really noticed- he'd been too scared to do anything but run, really… but it seemed to him that maybe Sasuke had been a little scared too.

So he cried. For himself (_I almost died today, but would anybody really care if I had? Did anyone care about them, those two that I saw?_) and for Sasuke (_Sasuke cared about them._), cherishing the warmth that his sensei offered him.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

For two more days, Sasuke avoided going back to the Academy. It had taken the shinobi searching for him nearly a day to actually check the Uchiha complex, and after they forced him back to the hospital for a check-up, he was then taken to the Hokage's office.

"Uchiha-kun, why don't you take a seat?" asked Sandaime, gesturing to a large, cushioned chair that had been shoved in front of his desk only a moment before by disgruntled ANBU, muttering to themselves about having graduated from performing such menial tasks when they hit chuunin.

Nodding, Sasuke settled himself in, trying to ignore how small the large its wooden frame made him feel. He hoped that he would only have to be here for a short time- he knew what Sandaime wanted to know, and he didn't have much to tell the old man.

"I assume you realize why you've been taken here?" the Hokage questioned. Sasuke merely nodded. Sarutobi sighed. "Then I'll get right to the point. There are only a few questions I'd like to ask you, first and foremost being if you know what has happened to your brother; of the entire clan, he is the only one we cannot account for."

Sasuke tensed at the mention of his brother, but forced himself to relax and remain impassive as he explained. "I would assume he has defected from the village, as you most likely wouldn't have taken kindly to his slaughtering Konohagakure no Sato's most powerful clan."

The only sign of Sarutobi's shock was the miniscule widening of his eyes. His voice was steady when he said to Sasuke, "Thank you for coming here, Uchiha-kun. You have answered all my questions.

"I'm sorry for you loss."

Taking this as his dismissal, Sasuke slipped out of the chair and exited the old man's office without a word. He felt no need to reply to false and pitying words.

As he left, he barely heard the Hokage's orders to nearby ANBU. "Don't let this leak out; if someone starts to dig too deep, use a cover-up story."

It had been a day since his encounter with Sandaime, and now Sasuke found himself sitting in class, only half-listening to the teacher's lecture. It was theory, something that normally fascinated the young Uchiha, but he had found himself unable to focus on anything that Kurenai-sensei said.

Just a few seats away was Naruto, and Sasuke could feel the boy's eyes boring holes into his skull as the blond persisted to stare at him. Sasuke did his best to ignore him, but it got a bit harder when the boy started chucking small balls of paper at his head. Luckily, this only went on a few more minutes before Inuzuka Kiba leaned over to whisper something in Naruto's ear. Shooting one last glance at Sasuke, Naruto slipped out of the classroom with the other boy.

For about half an hour, Sasuke found himself blessedly Uzumaki-free, and finally able to pay attention to Kurenai-sensei's lecture. Of course, it was then that Naruto and Kiba took it upon themselves to storm back into the classroom with spray paint and silly string, which effectively halted the class and caused complete chaos within the room. Sasuke felt extremely irritated when he suddenly found his shirt died an obnoxious neon orange color and his hair knotted with silly string.

For a few more minutes, Naruto and Kiba's reign of terror continued, until Kurenai-sensei finally got fed up enough to tie the two together with some chakra-enforced ropes and confiscate their spray cans. By that time, the entire classroom was covered in brightly colored paint doodles and masses of silly string. When Sasuke saw the lazy Nara boy completely submerged in it as well as painted various shades of yellow, pink, and green, he decided that he could've been worse off.

For punishment, the two troublemakers were kept tied up in the front of the classroom wearing large dunce caps for everyone to see, and those who had fallen victim to their prank were given an opportunity for revenge (Sasuke himself was particularly proud of the job he had done covering the dobe's entire shirt in clashing shades of purple and yellow). At the end of the day, Sasuke found himself almost smiling at the event. It had served as a nice distraction, keeping his mind from wandering too far.

By the time he had arrived at his house, Sasuke found that the afterglow of the class had completely worn off, and a small chill went through him as he entered his house. Its white-walled hallways were dark and bare, and the small plants that occasionally decorated the halls were beginning to wilt and die with neglect. And, despite his own indifference to plant life, he felt a twinge of sadness; those plants had been his mother's pride and joy. She would've been sad to see them in such a state.

He still found it strange, thinking of her like that. His mother had always been kind and doting, as if trying to make up for his father's cruel negligence towards him. So he had loved her very much; her death was more painful than any other, and a blow just as harsh as his beloved brother's betrayal.

As he found himself once again within the family room, he felt drawn to the chalk figures on the floor. Soon he stood within the outline, the dried blood cracking a bit beneath his feet. Gently, he laid himself down.

"Okaa-san, I really miss you…" he whispered, before his eyes fluttered shut and he drifted to sleep.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

A/N: That wasn't the longest chapter I've ever written, but it was still over 2,300 words, so I don't think there's any room to complain. I hope you enjoyed it, despite the lack of Sasuke-Naruto interaction. Don't worry, I'm getting to it. One of these days they may even start to be friends. And then, maybe, they'll get together! (That may take year or more, though, seeing as they're only seven. Don't worry; I doubt I'll write out the entire year.)

I hope you don't mind how I did Sarutobi-sama for this chapter; he's really a lot nicer than Sasuke sees him as, and I might get more into his character later when I'm more focused on Naruto. This is also the first chapter with Iruka as a noticeable character, so I hope you thought I portrayed him well enough.

I realize that my characters go through some quickly shifting moods, and I hope you understand that I do that because that's how real people are. New emotions can be triggered by just about anything, so that's kind of how I'm writing them. Some freakish combination of humor, angst, and drama. I hope you think that I'm doing okay.

Review please! Just click that little button in the corner, and tell me what you thought! It's not all that hard! Please?


End file.
